Artemi Panarin is an NHL rookie, but the Blackhawks left wing is playing like a veteran. With two goals from Panarin in back-to-back games, the Blackhawks swept a home-and-home against the Penguins by winning 3-1 at United Center.
The Russian scored the game-winning goal in each, at 8:56 of the third period Wednesday to break a 1-1 tie after scoring at 3:47 of overtime for a 3-2 win at Consol Energy Center on Tuesday.
Teuvo Teravainen scored into an empty net at 18:54 for the Blackhawks, who won their season-high fifth straight game. Goalie Scott Darling made 17 saves.
All four of Panarin's goals against the Penguins were scored against Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 34 saves Wednesday. Center Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh, which was swept by Chicago for a second straight season.
Panarin's goals Wednesday were scored with wrist shots. The first went through a screen by center Artem Anisimov; the second, scored off a faceoff won in the right circle, went through the legs of Brian Dumoulin before beating Fleury on the short side.
Chicago, 22-3-2 when scoring first, was looking to improve its puck possession after being outshot 36-30 in Pittsburgh. The Blackhawks held a 37-18 shots advantage Wednesday. The Blackhawks forced Fleury to make five saves in the first 3:55, including a diving stick save off a one-timer by Erik Gustafsson at 1:01. Fleury also made a lunging stick save to deny a goal off a snap shot by Trevor Van Riemsdyk.
Fleury stopped a breakaway by Andrew Shaw at 10:09 of the first with a left-pad save and kept it scoreless until Panarin put the Blackhawks up 1-0 at 15:58. After carrying the puck around the offensive zone from the right circle to the left circle, he beat Fleury through Anisimov's screen.
Chicago pushed its edge in shots to 25-11 in the second, but Malkin scored the only goal of the period, on a power play at 7:33, to tie it 1-1. The Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead on Panarin's 15th goal of the season. Patrick Kane's assist on Panarin's first goal was his NHL-leading 60th point of the season.
Pens Quotes
Marc-Andre Fleury: "He's got a good shot, a good release. He shoots hard, so he's got a good one-timer. The first one, I didn't see it. The second one, it was a scramble in front and he came in, took a quick [shot] between a guy's legs, and I wish I would've stopped it, you know?"
Asked if he knew much about Panarin prior to playing Chicago, Fleury nodded.
"Yeah, I'd heard about him. I'd seen him and stuff. He [ticked] me off now, though."
Mike Sullivan: "Kane's line was tough to handle for us tonight, but obviously [Fleury] made some great saves to keep us in the game. We just didn't have enough of a sustained attack and I thought we were on our heels too much."
Hawks Quotes
Patrick Kane: "We knew he was a special player right from the outset. Couple [of] big games by him [and] a couple huge goals. I'm sure you'll see that more as his career goes on [with] the Blackhawks, and he'll get even more accommodated here in the United States and everything like that. He'll become a better player. Sky's the limit for that kid." Artemi Panarin: "[I] stopped thinking about goals and [I] started to score goals. Anisimov] helps too. [I] started thinking too much about scoring goals. [I] didn't score. [I didn't] score some goals in any game and [I] started to think too much. This was not helping. But today was good."
Joel Quenneville: "He snaps it [Panarin's wrist shot]. That's the deception of it that can catch goalies. He has pace behind it too. You put the two together, it's lethal."
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